Stellar News Feed

Researchers have determined that a magnetic power struggle could be behind all solar eruptions. The findings, detailed in a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, might improve our ability to predict solar flares.

Astronomers using ESO’s MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered a star in the cluster NGC 3201 that is behaving very strangely. It appears to be orbiting an invisible black hole with about four times the mass of the Sun — the first such inactive stellar-mass black hole found in a globular cluster and the first found by directly detecting its gravitational pull. This important discovery impacts on our understanding of the formation of these star clusters, black holes, and the origins of gravitational wave events.

A team of more than 200 researchers, led by Louisiana State University's Tabetha Boyajian, is one step closer to solving the mystery behind the "most mysterious star in the universe." Boyajian said, "It's exciting. I am so appreciative of all of the people who have contributed to this in the past year -- the citizen scientists and professional astronomers. It's quite humbling to have all of these people contributing in various ways to help figure it out." ...

New findings on old favorites. AAVSO and Kepler data enable a new study of MV Lyrae, which was published in the journal Nature. “We have seen episodes of strong flares of accretion interrupted by periods with no evidence of accretion. This sporadic activity is best explained by the presence of a strong magnetic field comparable to that of 1000 fridge magnets” the lead author, Dr Scaringi, said.